Automatic relay for electric regulators.



I w. L. BUSS. AUTOMATIC RELAY FOR ELECTRIC REGULATORS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.13, 1912.

q 3 2 W m W I 7094336161 wwz en W. L BLESS. AUTOMATIC RELAY FOR ELECTRICREGULATORS.

Patented Sept. 26, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

APPLlCATlON FILED APR. I3. 1912.

///q h ,6 mfz mar i) STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM L. BLISS, OF NIAGARA. FALLS, NEW YORK, ASSI GNOR, BY MESNEASSIGIT- MENTS, TO U. S. LIGHT & HEAT CORPORATION, OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEWYORK, A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC RELAY FOR ELECTRIC REGULATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept, 26, 1916.

Application filed April 13, 1912. Serial No. 690,577.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. Buss, acitizen of the United States, residing at Niagara Falls, in the countyof Niagara and State of New York, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Automatic Relays for Electric Regulators, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to electric relays.

It is particularly adapted to be used in automatic electric regulators.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an improved relay forincreasing the sensitiveness of the automatic electric regulator inwhich it is used.

Another object is to provide a relay which is compact, self-contained,and in which the moving parts are protected from external injury or fromunauthorized adjustment.

A. further object is to provide a relay which is very sensitive inoperation, which is extremely dead beat in action, and which is notsubjected to objectional heating effects.

Other objects will be apparent from the description which follows.

The relay may assume various forms.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one form which I haveworked out in practice and which has many important commercialadvantages. The views in the drawings are as follows:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the preferred form of relay. Fig. 2 is afront elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation on the line 3,3, of Fig. 1. Fig. dis a diagram showing the relay connected in theregulator circuit.

The relay is provided with carbon disks 1 preferably arranged in avertical column or pile. controlled by the winding 2, which is made ofline wire and is adapted to respond td variation in voltage. The voltagewinding 2, when energized, draws up its plunger 3,-

compressing the carbon disks and thereby reducing the j resistancethereof. This upward movement is opposed byan adjustable spring 4 whichnormally relaxes the pressure on the carbons.

The voltage winding or solenoid 2 is carried by an iron solenoid frameor magnet The resistance of the carbons isthe fixed core are ofcomparatively large cross section and short length. As a result themagnetic circuit which is completed therethrough, is of low density orlow saturation, whereby ample magnetic pull is secured and whereby theoperation is very sensitive and stable.

The upward movement of the plunger '3 necessary to cause a sufficientcompression of the carbon pile is very slight. The carbon pile ismounted above the magnet frame 5, preferably on an aluminum plate ordisk 9 which has an arm 10 extending therefrom and provided with a hookat its outer end for convenience in attaching the retractile spring 4thereto. The metal plate acts as a terminal member for the carbon pileand is carried on the upper end'of a tail rod 11 which may be of brassor other suitable non-magnetic material. The tail rod has a reducedportion which is preferably screwed into central opening in said terminal plate, said reduced end passing through a small washer and the endof a resilient reed 12, said resilient reed and said washer beingclamped between said plate J and the shoulder formed by the reducedportion of said rod.

The resllient reed constitutes one of a .pair of flexible conductingspring reeds 12 which support the weight of the carbon pile 1, themovable plunger 3, the terminal plate 9 and the tail rod 11 whichconnects the above elements. The tail rod is rigidly secured to thelower plunger 3 and passes loosely through the upper fixed plunger ocore 7. r

The supporting spring reeds 12 are relatively long compared to thelength of the movable core 3 and are attached to suitable supports 13screwed to the magnet frame so that they may be readily removedtherefrom, as hereinafter described. These reeds afford a flexible,frictionless, stable support for the moving elements and permit saidmoving elements to move parallel to themriveted thereto.

both protect )(l and concealed.

selves substantially without sidewise deflection or'obliquity. Thiscondition also follows from the fact that the vertical movement of theseparts is very slight.

The slight up and down movement of the plate 9 is communicated to thebase of the The upper casing 15 may be made of any suitable material,magnetic or otherwise, but

preferably, conducting material. This upper casing protects the carbonpile and also acts as anelectrode, the circuit from the carbon pilebeing completed through the same. The metal casing 15 is insulated fromthe magnet frame 5 by means of the insulating washers and bushings 18and 19 and is removably secured thereto, preferably by means of twoscrews 20, which are insulated from said casing by suitable insulatingbushings 21. The upper casing 15 is preferably bored out to fitaccurately around the bushing 19 and thus bring said casing concentricwith the magnetic frame.

Lateral motion in the carbon pile is pre-, vented preferably by threeposts or stanchions 22 which are riveted to the supporting plate 9. Eachstanchion is preferably surrounded by an insulating tube 23-of lava orother suitable material. The ends of the stanchions are secured to aretaining ring 24, which has a plurality of small clips 25 These clipsextend radially inward, thereby preventing the carbon disks from fallingout in case the regulator is inadvertently turned up side down while thecasing is removed. The clips may be swung outwardly, however, if for anyreason it is desired to remove the carbon disks. It will thus be seenthat the carbon pile is supported in a vertical position, therebypreventing any displacement of the disks and relieving them of all sidefrictionagainst guides. The lava tubes 23 move with the carbons exceptthose near the top of the pile, due to the fact that said tubes rest onthe supporting plate 9 and thereby partake of its up and down movementin the same manner as do the carbon disks and particularly the lowerones. This reduces side friction to a "miniimugi. in case the car- 'bondisks come In contac with the guides, which is not ordinarily the case.

The relay is adjusted by altering the adglustment of the spring 4. Thisspring is oused inside of a. brass tube 26 which is carried in a ug 27cast inte rally with the magnetic fra ne. Accordingly, the spi'ing isThe upper end of the :pring is securedto the arm 10 and the 10\ or endthereof is secured to a supporting member 13.

cap 28 which fits loosely within the lower end of the tube 26 andswivels freely therein. The tension of the spring is adjusted by turningthe brass tube 26, which has screwthreaded engagement with the lug 27.After the springhas been. properly adjusted the tube 26 is locked intoposition by the locknut 29. By means of this spring adjustment thevoltage coil 2 may be made to rcspond to different voltage values.

The circuit through the resistance ele ment may be traced fromthe-terminal? 30 through a suitable connection to the solenoid frame,and thence to the resilient supable connections, not shown, to theterminal 33.

The relay may be readily dismantled in the following manner: Firstdisconnect the conducting strap 31 and remove the screws 20 to permitthe removal of the casing 15. The spring 4 may now be unhooked from thearm 10 and the supporting plate 9 rotated in a direction to unscrew thesame from the spindle 11. The plate 9 and the carbon pile supportedthereon may thus be readily removed as a unit. In unscrewing the plate 9a suitable tool may be inserted in one ofthe holes 34 in the moval'ilcplunger 3 to prevent turning of the same. The movable plunger 3, thespindle 11 carried thereby,'the small brass washer 35 surrouiuling saidspindle, and the lower resilient reed 12 may all be removed simply byren'ioving the screws 36, by meansof which the Sl1pporting piece 13 isscrewed to the magnet frame. The removal of these screws permits the'above mentioned parts to be drawn downwardly and removed from themagnet frame. In like manner the upper resilicnt' reed 12 may be liftedby removing the corresponding screws 36 which hold the upper The removalof the retaining screw 37 permits the withdrawal of the brass tube (5.The fixed core. 7 may now be removed by removing the single retainingscrew 38. The removal of the brass tube 26, in a manner that will beapparent. pern'iits the coil 2 to be slipped out of the. magnet frame.In assembling the parts the above steps are followed in the reverseorder.

The relay described above is very compact and self-contained and themoving parts are carefully protected from all external injury and frombeing tampered with by unauthorized persons. The design is such that arelatively large o'lcctro-nmgnetic coil is possible whereby it may beoperated at a low current density, which. prevents any material changein resistance due to heating and, therefore, maintains the accurateadjustment of the relay during operation. Due to thetered with otherforms of supporting de-' vices. The inertia of the moving parts has beenreducedgto a minimum, which conduces to quick action, stability and deadbeat movement. The construction is such that the parts are ,readilyaccessible for inspection simply-lay detaching the conducting strap andremoving the two screws which hold the upper casing to the magneticframe. lVhen the upperfc'asing is removed, the parts are all exposed forinspection and there is no derangement of the parts or opening ofcircuits due tof such'removal, other than that due to the removal ofsaidstrap.

The relaymay be connected in circuit in various ways preferably as partof an automatic electric regulator for the purpose of increasing "thesensitiveness of the regulation. The diagram in Fig. 4 illustrates oneform of'oircuit arrangement. Current is supplied to a circuit by avariable speed generator having an armature 39 and ashunt field winding40. A storage battery 41 and translating devices 42 are connected acrosssaid circuit in parallel branches. In order to prevent an excessivevoltage from being impressed on the translating devices which areillustrated in the form of electric lajhps, a lamp regulator isprovided. This fegulator has a variable pressure rheostat connected inseries with the lamps and a voltage coil or controlling winding 44connectedaround the lamps between the same and the storage battery. Thecarbon pile 1 of the relay is connected in'fseries with said voltagewinding 44. T he voltage coil 2 of the relay is cgnnected in a shuntcircuit'in parallel \vithtb'e lamps. (hen the voltage of the circuitacross which the voltage coil 2 is connected, tends to rise above acertain predetermined value, the increased energization of said windingcauses a decrease in the carbon resistance*1,'=and a consequent increasein the energization' of th s controlling winding ii-i. which latterwinding acts to insert resistance in series with the translating devicesby decreasing the pressure applied to the variable pressure rheostat4:3. Accordingly, the increased resistance in series with the lampscompensates for the excessive voltage tending to be impressed thereon,and as a result the lamp voltage is main tained within the predeterminedlimit.

During the operation just described,the current flowing in theregulating solenoid 44 is increased due to} two factors; first, theincrease due to the increased voltage applied to said solenoid, and,second, the increase due to the decrease in the resistance 1.Accordingly, a double increase or magnifying effect is secured wherebythe regulator responds more readily to a slight increase in voltage thanwould be the case if the relay were not employed.

It is to be understood, of. course, that the circuit, diagram} referredto is selected merely for thepurpose of illustrating one form, ofcircuit "connection which may be employed. It is also to be understoodthat the type of lamp regulator shown airdtlsg5 scribed was selected forthe purpose of'illustration only. It is obvious that the relay may beused in connection with various forms of regulators or'analogousdevices.

It is apparent that the form of relay shown and described \vasselectedsimply for the purpose of illustrating a preferred embodiment of theinvention. Other embodiments ma of course, ,be devised. Accordingly,-I 0not desire to limit myself to the construction shown, but. desire tocover broadlyany suitable equivalent means for accomplishing the desiredresults as long as said means fall within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A relay comprising a pile of carbon disks, a solenoid and coretherefor, said 105 solenoid when energized adapted to increase the,pressure on said pile of disks through movement of said core, aresilient mounting for said core, and a spring tending to move said corein a direction to relax said pres- 110 sure.

2. A- relay comprising a solenoid, a fixed core, and a movable core,said cores being of comparatively large cross section and short lengthwhereby the magnetic saturation is 115 relatively low, the air gapbetween said fixed core and said movable core being slight for thepurpose of securing an ample magnetic pull for a short diptance, saidmovable core' beingcarried by tie ends of a pair of 're-' I20 silientreeds.

3. A relay comprising a solenoid, a fixed core, a movable core, saidcores being of comparatively large cross section and short lengthwhereby the magnetic saturation is 125 relatively low, the air gapbetween said fixed plunger and said movable plunger being slight for thepurpose of securing an ample ,i'nagnetic pull for a short distance, saidmovable core being carried by the ends 1 9 netic winding, a coretherefor constructed in two sections, one of which is statlonary and theother of which is movable, said mdvable section being supported by apair of resilient reeds, a pile of carbon disks arranged above'saidWinding and also supported by said'reeds, the latter tending nor- Imally to compress said carbon disks, and an adjustable spring associatedwith said movable parts and acting in opposition to the tendency of saidreeds.

5. A relay comprising an electromagnetic winding, a core thereforconstructed in two sections, one of which is stationary and the otherofwhich is movable, said movable section being supported by a pair ofresilient reeds, a pileof carbon disks'arranged above said winding andalso supporte by said reeds, said reeds tending normally to compresssaidcarbon disks, and an adjustable spring associated with said movableparts and acting in opposition to the tendency of said reeds, saidelectromagnetic winding when energized acting in opposition to' saidspring, thereby tending through the movement of said movable section toassist in compressing saidcarbon disks. v

6. In combination, a pile of resistance plates, a voltage responsivecoil acting when energized to increase the pressure on said resistanceplates to decrease the resistance of said pile, said voltage responsivecoil having a movable core normally impelled in a direction to increase,said pressure, and an adjustable spring associated with said core forrestraining said movement and acting in opposition to the pull exertedby said voltagecoil.

7. A relay comprising an electromagnet,

and a carbon pile mounted thereon, said carbon pile havinga protectingcasing secured to but insulated from the frame of said magnet andconstituting one terminal of said carbon pile, said frame constitutingthe other terminal.

8. A carbon pile resistance arranged ver-- tically and havinga movableterminalmember supporting the same, said terminal member being providedwith upright guides between said carbon pile as a whole and said guidesis reduced to a minimum.

19. A carbon pile resistance arranged ver- ,tically and having a movableterminal member for supporting the same, said movable terminal memberbeing resiliently mounted and normally impelled in a direction toincrease the prcssure on the carbon pile, and a spring tending to offsetthe pressure exerted by said terminal member, said spring beingadjustable to regulate the normal compression of said pile.

10. A relay comprising an electromagnet having a magnetic frame, amovable core therefor, two resilient reeds secured near the outerportion of said frame and extending radially inward, said core beingsupported by the inner ends of said reeds.

11. A relay comprising an clectroinagnct having a magnetic frame, amovable core therefor, two resilient reeds secured near the outerportion of said frame and extending radially inward, said core beingsupported by the inner ends of said reeds, a projecting tube alsocarried by said frame, a spring arranged in said tube, and meansconnecting said spring with said core whereby adjustment of said springregulates the movement of said core.

12. In combination, a magnet frame, an electro-magnetic winding carriedthereby, a movable plunger for said electro-magnetic winding, resilientreeds for supportin said plunger, and supporting members to which saidresilient reeds are rigidly secured at one end, said supporting membersbeing mounted on said magnet, frame but being detachable therefrom,whereby said resilient reeds and said plunger may be readily removedfrom said magnet frame without dctaching said reeds from their immediatesupports.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto suescribed n'iy name in the presenceof two witnesses. n

W'ILLIAM L. BLISS. Witnesses T. l CALLAuAN,

C. E. MEAD.

